Thought's Dominion

"I want to capture it all...every glistening facet, each color laden pixel, the wisps of thought, the skin of youth and the courage of ages..."- Julia Farley

Friday, May 26, 2006

"I don't get no Respect!"

5/24/0601:05 pm

http://www.kramerfineart.com/images/fullsize/ripley2.jpg (sorta like mine)I drove a hour today to have an etching appraised. It was a hunting etching signed my Ripley ( yeah, you don't know or care who that is, right?). But, here is the important part. In doing some research on said print I found that similar prints were worth about 2K. Yep. Two thousand smackeroos. Hmmmm, thought I. Let's just go see whats what.

The man I spoke with was pudgy and had thick warm hands that smelled of aftershave. The monogram on his crisp egyptian cotton pocket clearly told me, as did his carriage, that he was of noble ilk. If that didn't suffice for evidence, the collection of prints on his wall did just fine. We chatted up for a while about art, about my family (from whence said print came) and travel. Down to business, we took a looksie at this print.

First and foremost, the print had been cut. The edges had been sliced off, leaving only a 1 inch border around the print, not the requisite 2 inch border of collectible stature. C'est merdre. Oh. Pooh. That right there cut the $2,200 pricey taggy in half. This had been done quite a while ago, as the…and I *get* this part…MASKING TAPE (!!!!!) which was lined along the edge remained. Stubbornly, I might add. Kach-ing! Let's just take off another $300.00 or so, eh, just fer kicks?

Okay, granted I am an artist, and I *do* matting and framing for a living. I knows me some stuff about acid free paper, tapes and glue, oh My! But, someone who did not know that much had taken this print to a frame shop and THEY did the job. Hacks!

I don't understand how someone “in the bizineess” could be so sloppy and careless about a valuable piece of art.

Pudgy and I bantered and bartered and he went off to discuss this with his wife. The net-net is that I now have $650.00 more in my pocket than I had before, which is good. And, in all honesty, I was not so very attached to the spendy amount I hoped it would garner. And, I learned a lot from this guy. So, iz gooot.

Thursday, May 18, 2006

Ah, Baloney!

Dan goes bouldering

You get knocked down by life sometimes. Sometimes, life rips a leg right off you as if you were a mere spider creeping along the wall. You *can* heal. You *can* Live Large. You *can* face your fears and challenges and arrive at a high place above the rushing waters of change. If you need someone to talk to about this, just let me know. I'll set you up with Dan, who will set you up with a beer and a good long talk about the absence of limitations.